April 29, 2016 - NORWAY - Eleven people have been killed in a helicopter crashed off the west
coast of Norway near Bergen, AFP reports. A Briton, an Italian and 11
Norwegians were amongst those on board the helicopter, which was totally
destroyed on impact.

“We have received many, many reports of a helicopter crash just west of Turoy near Bergen. Many people have reported that they heard an explosion and saw smoke. We can confirm that a helicopter has crashed and that there are people in the sea,” police told the Verdens Gang newspaper.

Norwegian police have told the broadcaster NTB that there were 13 people on board the helicopter when it came down. The area has frequent helicopter traffic servicing offshore oil platforms in the North Sea off the Norwegian coast. The Rescue Coordination Center has yet to receive any information about any survivors.

Rescuers work at a site where a helicopter has crashed,
west of the Norwegian city of Bergen April 29, 2016. Bergens Tidende /
Reuters

According to the Bergens Tidende newspaper, police say they have found dead bodies, as the rescue attempts continue. The dead bodies were found on land, though the exact number of those who perished has not been announced.

“We do not know the sequence of events or what the helicopter to come down,” Bjorn Jarle, from the Rescue Coordination Center for South Norway.

Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway.

Reports say there was no problem with the weather as conditions were good for flying, according to local meteorologists.

The helicopter that came down is believed to be a Eurocopter and was owned by the CHC Helicopter Group, which specializes in providing offshore transportation to the oil-and-gas industry.

Norwegian oil company Statoil has confirmed to the Aftonbladet publication that the crashed helicopter came from the Gullfaks B platform - a North Sea oil field operated by Statoil.

Ivar Moen, from the Rescue Coordination Center for South Norway, told Verdens Gang that diving equipment is being brought to help with the rescue operation.

“There are a lot of people who can help in the area, but the Rescue Coordination Center has requested vessels with the capacity to dive. The Norwegian Stealth Frigate, the Otto Sverdrup will help with the rescue attempts and is heading to the area,” he said.

Statoil is setting up an emergency center in Bergen, while it confirmed that 11 of those on board worked for the oil firm.

The oil giant has also said that all helicopters of a similar type to the one that crashed have been temporarily taken out of service.

April 29, 2016 - TAIWAN - Two rare earthquake fish were thrown out of the water after a ' mud volcano ' erupted off the coast of Taiwan.

The volcano erupted early Thursday morning in the city of Pingtung following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake.

Fishermen were delighted to find the oarfish, also known as earthquake fish, both measuring 4.4 metres - twice as long as beanpole footballer Peter Crouch - and weighing a whopping seven stone.

Four eruption mouths were spotted in a paddy field in Wandan Town and the hot slurry almost destroyed the whole field.

Local
villagers dug ditches immediately to drain the slurry away and doubted
that the eruption may have a connection with the early earthquake that
hit the east coast.

The huge fish both measure more than 4 metres in length. CEN

The fish weighed a whopping seven stone. CEN

The 5.6-magnitude earthquake occurred in the waters off Hualien County,
Taiwan at around 11:17pm and in the following several hours, around 30
aftershocks between 3.5 and 5.6 magnitude were spotted.

The latest earthquake monitored at 4 magnitude occurred around 11am on Thursday. There have been no casualties reported.

Experts say that the aftershocks may last two to three days.

"We predict that the mud volcano eruption may last for two to
three days. And it may be accompanied by some magnitude 5 earthquakes,"
said Kuo Kaiwen, director of Taiwan Earthquake Monitoring and Report
Center.

April 29, 2016 - COSTA RICA - The Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI
in Spanish) reported today that the seismic activity at the volcano
Turrialba increased in the last hours.

The Observatory recalled that last Saturday, nearly 75
earthquakes took place in less than 12 hours between the Irazu and
Turrialba volcanoes.

The National Seismological Network said that so far is been observed the normal steam and gases plume rising from the volcano.

The vapor plume started forming above Turrialba’s crater in the early hours of Thursday, April 28.OVSICORI

After more than a century inactive, seismic activity was recorded at the Turrialba volcano on January 5, 2010.

Turrialba is the second highest volcano in the country after the Irazu
is located in the district of Santa Cruz, in the canton of Turrialba, in
the province of Cartago.